Death And Decisions
by TheEliteLabRatsLover
Summary: When forced with difficult decisions during a mission with Barry, will Oliver choose the right one?


**Guess who actually got inspiration to write a story? Not me. _But_ since I love you guys, I made the sacrifice and sat down and wrote one, anyways. :P So a little bit about the story so you understand; first off, I'll explain more at the bottom lol, but basically this is kind of in the beginning of Barry being the Flash and teaming up with Arrow but after Barry can walk on water. That's all ya' need to know for now ;D See the bottom for more details.**

 **Disclaimer: I own none of this awesomeness, but I do embellish it a bit.**

* * *

"What a lovely day for a boat cruise," Barry stated sarcastically as he arrived with Oliver on the small yacht; having super sped their way onto it.

Rain pounded down on the crashing waves that slammed into the boat every now and then, accompanying the not-so-gentle pitter patter of rain on the deck. Oliver merely ignored him as he took in the dark surroundings of the ship they were on.

It was small; maybe a hundred feet or less.

Not dissimilar to the yachts Oliver used to own as a frivolous college boy. Lightning crashed throughout the sky every once in a while, and Oliver did his best to push down the rising flashbacks that threatened to enter his mind.

The mission was simple.

Team Arrow as Cisco and Felicity called it- _and despite the many times Oliver rebuked the name, they continued to do so_ -had been in Central City for a team-up against a mad-man named "the Riddler", which had been too much for only Team Flash to handle, so they recruited Oliver and his team.

And due to the stresses of that particular mission - _Barry nearly being publicly executed as the Flash had shaken them all_ \- Oliver had decided to stay in Central City for a few more days to make certain the Riddler was in secure containment.

Then, during the middle of their attempts to catch him, there had been a meta-human alert of a bank robbery. It had seemed less important at the time, but now that the Riddler was captured, Barry and Oliver had decided to try to track this meta human- _who called himself Bloodwork, was a previous coworker of Barry's, and whose power was to manipulate not only his own blood, but the blood of others_ \- and put an end to his beginning crime, possibly murderous, career.

It was just a routine mission, so both Barry and Oliver had decided that there was no need for the rest of the team.

Of course, Cisco and Felicity wanted to stay and help as much as they could from STAR Labs through the comms. Felicity had hacked into the bank's systems and gotten a facial recognition, thus being able to track Bloodwork down and pinpoint his exact location; on this very ship.

Despite being glad to give their teams both a well deserved rest, Oliver wasn't terribly amused that they didn't have backup while being in the middle of the ocean. Thankfully, Cisco had a solution that only partly eased Oliver's mind.

...

 _"You cant just super speed us both in there, Barry." Oliver declared as he crossed his arms. "What if you break your leg or something? Then you wont be able to get us both out of there. We'll be compromised." Barry playfully rolled his eyes, only frustrating Oliver even further._

 _"I'm not gonna' break my leg, Ollie."_

 _"But what if you do?" Oliver desperately wanted the younger man in front of him to understand the possibly dire consequences of his unplanned actions. He was a good kid with a good heart, but he was reckless. And reckless could get people killed. Including himself. Barry sighed in light annoyance._

 _"Alright, Doom and Gloom," Barry began, ignoring the look Oliver gave him. "I'm sure Cisco's got something set in place." The engineer's eyes lit up as he was brought into the discussion. A smile spread across his face as he pointed at Barry._

 _"You know me so well. So, I've been working on this thing since Barry first got the ability to run on water. If something were to happen while he was out there, none of us could get to him in time. So, Caitlin and I have been developing this lifeboat that we can control remotely. I call it the Rescuer 218." He stated, a hand gesture to add an effect to his words._

 _Oliver simply sighed. It was a good idea, he had to give the kid credit, but the names this man gave things was getting out of hand._

 _"Fine. I guess we can work with that." Oliver declared, ignoring the victorious smile on Barry's face._

...

"Why do the villains always own some shady type of boat? It's actually really unsettling." Barry semi-joked as they scanned their surroundings. Sometimes Oliver just didn't understand this kid. Days before- _only days_ -Barry was moments away from having his life torn away from him just like _that_.

But he still maintains the ability to joke in a serious situation.

Oliver wasn't mad at his lighthearted-ness; far from it. His ability to always remain hopeful was one of the things Oliver admired most about the kid. But his failure to grasp the gravity of the situation irked Oliver to no end.

"How about we try focusing?" Oliver ground out, moving ahead once he realized this part of the boat was clear. "Position?" This time Oliver spoke into the comms as they moved forward.

"It shows there are about twelve heat signatures in the core of the boat; I'm guessing that must be where Rosso is hiding." Felicity replied, but suddenly Barry's voice rang out; cutting off her words.

"Arrow, look ou-!" But his words were drowned out when a sudden impact threw Oliver aside, sending him rolling across the slick boards. Shaking off the haze that blurred his vision, he looked up to see what appeared to be a man, but most definitely not human. His eyes gleamed with each lightning bolt that increasingly sparked across the sky, and they focused solely on Oliver.

But that attention ended as quickly as it began as Rosso was suddenly tackled by a running Barry. A massive fight broke out between the two, and Oliver waited for the right moment to shoot the tranquilizer- _since there weren't many other options of taking this guy out_.

For a moment, Barry was winning. Until suddenly Rosso had the upper hand; quite literally. The next thing Oliver knew, Bloodwork had Barry by the neck, his feet dangling in the air as he writhed in pain at Rosso's manipulation of his blood.

Oliver's heart skipped a beat at the sudden change, but he wasted no time in shooting off his arrow. But to his concealed horror, the man had caught it. He looked at Oliver with an inhuman smirk; one Oliver thought resembled an animal on the prey all too well.

"You seem to forget; manipulating blood isn't the only power this gave me," Rosso grinned, before turning his attention back to a struggling Barry who didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the pain he was causing the hero.

Oliver reached for another arrow, ready to charge, when Bloodwork warned him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, or your friend will suffer the consequences." As if on cue, Barry let out a bloodcurdling scream as his body seemed so seize against the pain.

Horrible choking and gasping sounds came from the other hero but Oliver tried to ignore it so he could focus on taking down the enemy. Rosso's attention turned to Barry as he spoke; the rain still pouring down their faces.

"You are an infection inside Central City! And I am the antibody inside of it that will remove you," Barry gasped, clawing at the arm that held his neck as his legs weakly dangled below him as he fought to break free. Oliver took this chance to fire his arrow; knowing that any other move could prove to be fatal for the both of them.

But once again the man merely caught it, and Oliver's breath hitched in his throat at the sight of Barry's limbs stilling as his body went limp. Rosso cocked his head to the side as he looked back at Oliver, and once again in the span of only a week, he felt absolutely helpless.

"Who's it gonna' be, Arrow? Save your friend here-" He shook Barry's body like a rag doll, causing his head to loll to the side in his unconsciousness, and Oliver's anger soared at his carelessness. "Or catch me? You can't have both."

And with those final words, without anymore warning, he tossed Barry over the side of the deck; straight into the water. Oliver hesitated only a moment, hearing Felicity's and Cisco's jumbled concerned words.

" _You'll die if you jump in the water!_ " Felicity yelled into the comms, but Oliver was already yanking off his jacket; distantly aware of Bloodwork already having left the scene.

"He'll die if I don't." Without any further parting words, Oliver dove into frigid water, gasping involuntarily at the cold impact. The cold water seemed to cut through his lungs as it splashed up into his face.

"We're looking for his heat signature but it's not-" Cisco began.

"Oh! Oh, to your right! Barry's heat signature is to your right!" Felicity cut Cisco off; voice frantic. Oliver gulped in a breath of air, ignoring the ice water threatening to rip him away as it carved into his chest. A resounding thought formed in his head as he realized if _he was having this much difficulty staying up against the current, there's no way Barry can_. But he wasn't about to let the kid die.

"Where is he!?" Oliver shouted over the wind and water into the comms, trying to stay above the water and still keep the comms so he could communicate.

"It says he's right there!" Felicity halted, her voice taking on a thick, broken tone. "Oh God, he must be under the water."

"I already sent out the Rescuer 218; it should be there soon." Cisco declared, his voice worried but almost somber. Oliver looked around once more, and he knew it was risky, he knew it would be impossible to see and probably wouldn't work, but he took one more deep breath of the crisp air, and swam beneath the surface.

His eyes burned as he opened them and tried to look around as he blindly threw his arms out; searching for his fallen teammate. It was nearly pitch black; impossible to see, and immediately when he went under, everything went silent.

He swam back up and broke through the surface, a consistently growing fear filling his chest as he dove back down. He continued searching, remaining calm even though he felt a sickening feeling of loss.

He was just about to go back to the surface, just about to lose all hope, when he saw it; the single small jolt of electricity as it flickered.

He immediately swam towards it -faster than he thought was possible after being in the water this long- and reached out when he saw it again. Realizing it was part of Barry's suit, Oliver's hand connected with something solid, and relief flooded through him as he felt the arm of his teammate.

It didn't take long for him to wrap his arm around Barry's chest and under his arms to drag him back up to the surface as he swam; a renewed adrenaline rush pumping through his veins. He broke through the surface with a gasp, the loud sounds of thunder crashing and mixing with the violent sounds of wind and ocean together almost deafening to him.

He immediately used his other hand to try and feel for a pulse, but the current was too strong that he had to let go and try to keep them both up. Suddenly bright lights nearly blinded Oliver as the rescue boat showed up, and he wasted no time in throwing an arm up and crawling into it with Barry in tow. He continued to breathe heavily, still gulping in air as he gently laid his friend down.

Barry's helmet had slipped off sometime in the water, nearly freezing for a moment when it made him look even more like just a kid. Oliver immediately pressed his fingers into Barry's neck, one hand also on his chest as he hovered above Barry's face; trying to feel any breath or pulse.

A sluggish pulse met Oliver's fingertips, but he couldn't feel any air and a strong feeling of relief and panic flooded his system. He immediately began chest compressions, counting under his breath as he watched for any reaction; he was vaguely aware of the boat bringing them back to land.

His body shivered but he felt only numb as he struggled to make Barry breathe again. He was nearly done with this round of compressions, and about to start CPR, when suddenly the most horrible yet beautiful sound filled his ears as Barry gasped and gargled for air.

Oliver quickly turned him onto his side as he sputtered out the water, coughing and wheezing as his lungs burned for air. Barry grabbed Oliver's arm weakly as he coughed and gasped, his neck arching as his grip tightened.

"Just breathe, Barry, you're okay," Oliver assured calmly, though his body still shook, and he wasn't so sure that the water was what caused it.

Barry coughed painfully, wheezing once more, before his eyes closed and his head lolled to the side; his grip on Oliver's wrist slackened but still held on firmly. Oliver immediately felt for a pulse, and put his hand on Barry's chest, to indeed feel it moving as he breathed.

No matter how shaky or irregular Barry's breathing was, Oliver simply relished in the fact that he was _alive_. And as the lights of the dock approached in his sight, Cisco and Felicity rejoicing and as Barry lie before him resting...

Oliver knew he had made the right decision.

* * *

 **So, yeah, I kind of wanted to explore Oliver's rule of always capturing the villain, no matter what, and because I love their friendship, this was born haha. So the whole thing about the Riddler actually happened in the comics, and Bloodwork is real, but I'm not a pro on how he works so that's a bit wonky, the line about "infection inside of Central City" is an actual line I stole. Whoops. Anywho, please leave a review because that's what makes me thrive as a writer! :D More reviews means more stories ;P**


End file.
